


The Morning After the Rain

by Voldecourt



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Grief/Mourning, but in a healthy way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-10-14 17:50:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20604857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voldecourt/pseuds/Voldecourt
Summary: After Itachi dies, the anniversary of the Uchiha massacre is different. But at least Shikako is there to help.





	The Morning After the Rain

Sasuke was still laying in his bed, in spite of the bright afternoon sun filtering in through the curtains. 

Normally he tried to spend as little time in his house as he could. In his academy days he spent every waking hour on a training field, and once he graduated he had kept even busier. Then, when he joined ANBU he had even more options; his dorm and the cafeteria were always open to him. 

On the current day, however, the anniversary of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Sasuke wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to leave the house again. 

In the years before Sasuke had always spent the anniversary as far away from Uchiha grounds as physically possible, unwilling to be reminded of what had happened there. But this year was different; this was the first year that Itachi was dead. 

It had been months, but Sasuke still felt the phantom touch against his forehead, and heard the whispered, ragged final words —

_Sorry, Sasuke, this is it. _

There was a knock, and Sasuke was drawn out of his thoughts as the window to his bedroom opened. He didn’t have to look up to know who it was, though he made sure to keep a shuriken at hand. 

“They let you out of the hospital?” Sasuke asked Shikako as she closed the window shut behind her, “I thought Tsunade wasn’t letting you or Naruto go for another day, at least.” 

Shikako shrugged, “I’m basically fine. Everyone was just over-reacting.” 

Sasuke snorted as he got out of bed. Overreacting, right. Like completely exhausting ones chakra reserves after fending off a member of Akatsuki was a perfectly normal thing. “You’re turning into Kakashi-sensei, you know.” 

Shikako gave him a glare, “This was only the fourth time it’s happened.” 

He shot her an unimpressed look, “Fifth.” 

She reddened a bit and looked away, “It doesn’t matter. The point stands, regardless. I can sit around not using chakra here just as easily as I can in the hospital.” 

Tch, she was the most stubborn person he’d ever met, even if she didn’t seem like it. Rather than argue, or ask how she’d climbed into his window and disarmed the traps with no chakra, he changed the subject, “Naruto’s still in the hospital, then.” 

It wasn’t a question. If he wasn’t, then he would have been right behind Shikako, checking up on him. 

Shikako nodded, ”He asked me to bring him some ramen tomorrow when he saw me sneaking out, but I’m not sure if I want to risk Tsunade’s wrath if she finds me too soon.” 

“I’ll bring it,” Sauke offered, “You’ve done enough to make Tsunade mad.” 

“_We’ve_ all been doing enough to make her angry. Think of all the paperwork she’s had recently.” 

“We exposed ROOT and helped kill a corrupt elder who was undermining her power and willing to kill entire clans. She can’t be that angry at us.” 

The words were harsher than he expected, and more bitter than intended. 

There was a silence as Shikako looked at him intently, “I know you don’t want me to ask, but how are you feeling today?” 

Sasuke looked away, “I don’t know. It’s different this year, even though it shouldn’t be. Itachi was lost years ago. It’s not like anything has really changed.” 

“It has though,” Shikako said gently, “You have all the answers, now. Or at least, you have more than before. Things are final.” 

That was true. Before he only had questions and grief that only grew and twisted into more anger as the years went on, but now, well, “I miss him,” Sasuke admitted, “I shouldn’t. Even if he was forced to do what he did, he still did it. And he hurt me, hurt you, and I’ll never be able to forgive him for that. But I still miss him. And I don’t know what to do about that.” 

Shikako looked at him, her eyes, as always, eyes clear of judgement or pity, “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

That was just like her, always asking after him. Always helping him, whether she knew it or not. He opened his mouth to refuse, or to change the conversation to something less emotional, when a memory struck him. 

_Sasuke looked over at his mother as she focused intently on the rice paper she was writing on, “Is there anything I can do to help?” _

_His mother smiled at him, beckoning him over to sit down, “How about I show you how to make this? Then, in the evening, we’ll all go down to the river, and we can say goodbye to those we’ve lost.” _

He remembered a night of sorrow and warmth, after that. Of pretty golden lights and the comfort of his clan surrounding him. 

With that scene in his mind he turned to Shikako, “There is something that I want to do,” he said slowly, an idea forming. “Will you help me?” 

Shikako smiled at him, “Of course. Always.” 

He led her out of his room, to his mother’s office. He sneezed as the dust stirred in the air when he slid open the door. He didn’t clean this room often. 

The storage scroll he was looking for was easy to find; his mother had kept things very organized. As he pushed chakra into his mother’s beautiful calligraphy, the supplies he needed appeared in his hands. 

With the wooden frames, rice paper, paint, and brushes in hand he made his way to the kitchen, Shikako following behind. “What are we making?” 

“Lanterns,” Sasuke replied, tracing one of the bases with his fingers, “It’s a clan tradition. I’d forgotten about it. Every year during the Bon Festival we’d make them in memory of those who had died that year and send them down the clan’s river.”

He paused, “It’s not Obon, but this feels right.” 

“Ok,” Shikako said, sitting across the table from him, organizing the supplies, “Show me how to make one.” 

He did just that, assembling the frame and carefully folding the paper On the first lantern he wrote ‘Uchiha Shisui’. 

Even if they hadn’t known, he had been the first true victim of the massacre. 

Shikako learned quickly, and joined him in assembling all the lanterns. The names she wrote were far neater and more legible than anything else he had ever seen her write. There was a lightness in his chest as he watched her write down each name, never needing to check who someone was or to ask for clarification. 

There was someone else who knew their names. Another person who remembered, on some small level, who the Uchiha had been. He wasn’t alone. 

He wasn’t sure how long they spent, creating paper lanterns in silence, but the crescent moon was high in the sky as they approached the end of the construction. There was enough for one more. With slightly shaking hands but a steady stroke Sasuke wrote the final name. 

‘Uchiha Itachi’

The lantern was identical to all the others, but it felt heavier in his hands. 

“What now?” Shikako asked, as he sealed the lantern away, her voice hushed, like breaking the silence would destroy something precious. 

Sasuke gathered the storage scroll into his hands and stood up, “Follow me.” 

He lead Shikako deep into the clan grounds, into the shrine he was never supposed to let any non-Uchiha see. But Shikako, Kakashi, and even Sakura had already seen some of the shrine. What was another clan rule broken? 

Down and down they went, underneath the shrine, towards the secret underground river. It was as big as he remembered, and dark. Shikako’s LED seals lit up the bank, the water calmly but surely flowing past them, though Sasuke was unsure where exactly it led. His mother had smiled and said it went all the way to the pure land, when he had asked all those years ago. 

They knelt by the river, and Shikako unsealed the lanterns, and turned down her seal light. One at a time, they sent the lanterns down the river, Sasuke using a spark of a fire jutsu, the first he had ever learned, to light each candle. Shikako, beside him, used a lighter. 

Before long the river was awash with a golden light, illuminating the cavern with a soft glow as the lanterns slowly made their way downstream. 

The first of the lanterns just started to wink out as Sasuke placed the last one, the one which bore his brother’s name, into the water. 

Some distant part of Sasuke was aware of the tears falling from his eyes, but he paid it no mind. His sharingan ensured he saw everything perfectly, regardless. 

He glanced over at Shikako. Her cheeks too, were damp with tears, illuminated only by the soft lantern glow. She turned to face him, pain in her eyes, “I’m so sorry.” 

Sasuke shook his head, “No, thank you. For everything.”

Sasuke sat at the river bank, his feet dipped into the freezing cold water, with his best friend by his side. As he watched the last lantern turn around the bend, and the last speck of light flickered out he whispered, “Goodbye, Itachi.” 

Nothing more was said that night. 

He still wasn’t ok, he knew that. He would carry the scars and weight of the Uchiha Massacre for the rest of his life. And nothing was wholly resolved; there was still the Akatsuki member in the orange mask who had a sharingan, and parts of ROOT still in need of uncovering. But as Shikako reached through the darkness to squeeze his hand, Sasuke felt the beginnings of peace. 


End file.
